


Shared Memories Skewed

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Category: DCU (Animated), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-21
Updated: 2014-03-21
Packaged: 2018-01-16 10:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1344298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin from the Teen Titans Animated series falls into New Teen Titans/The Titans' verse and it might just break his brain to watch that Slade dealing with his Titans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shared Memories Skewed

**Author's Note:**

> Toon Titans is at the point just after Terra took out Slade, before the Trigon arc. Call the comic Titans at somewhere in the mid to late run of The Titans title.

"Easy, Kid," came the low rumble of a voice that sounded too familiar and yet oh so wrong. That voice wasn't supposed to be genuinely concerned, for one. For two, Slade was dead. Robin knew that and clung to that as his only shield against the past. "Kid, you fell into a new dimension. Saw the portal open up myself. And you're in Africa, which is why it's so damned hot."

Robin's eyes opened, very narrowly, beneath the domino sealed to his face. He looked up at the naked face of his tormentor wearing a patch above the peculiar mustache and beard, then took in the fact they were on a savanna, and Slade //can't be him--he's dead--how...// was dressed in casually rugged clothing.

"Kid?"

The tone of that was interrogatory, but still light, not viscerally interested.

Robin pushed up, away from Slade...and was confused even more that Slade made no move to close the distance. "A portal?" he asked, pushing his voice to be as deep as he could. He saw the flicker of a frown on the man's face, the glint of confusion in the single eye, but refused to be swayed from evaluating the threat apparent in this setting.

"Damn, but I suppose I'm going to have to give Logan a call, Kid, because you sure as hell don't belong here and I don't need the headache," Slade said gruffly, his voice betraying an emotion to someone who had made an obsession of studying the coldly pragmatic villain of his own world.

"You don't make any sense to me," Robin said, frustrated by the very idea that he had the power to make Slade hurt just by speaking.

"Makes two of us, Kid. The last time I saw Grayson this young...my older son was dying," Slade informed Robin. "Let's just say the road's been a long one since."

//Son? Older...// Robin had to wonder what that meant for his own world, even as he kept his guard up. "You said Logan?" he pointed out, refusing to acknowledge the use of his given name.

Slade chuckled gruffly at that suspicious question. "Let me guess. In your world I'm still just the enemy, right?"

"You can't be anything but evil," Robin stated flatly.

Slade's eye darkened, then he caught his temper by its tail, and turned to walk to the distant house. "Either wait here for your Titans to try and reach you...or follow and let's see what Logan's friends can cook up. With the girl gone, I'm not sure how far this will get, but then I hear Garth's been learning some tricks too."

That entire sentence made Robin's head spin, and he wanted to ask questions, but how in hell was he supposed to believe a word of it? Still, the sun was beating down, that house was the sole shelter for miles on miles, and... there were answers to be had in this strange Slade that might help him in his own quest to exorcise the ghosts of his past.

So Robin followed, with boy and man each locked against memories of a past that the other contradicted.

* * *

Robin was ultra wary upon entering the house that looked like a colonial relic of some kind, except for the very modern construction and material. His next shock of the day came in the appearance of an older man that he vaguely recognized as Slade's butler in his own world. Only, this Wintergreen carried himself with an open, friendly air and took in his presence with a raised eyebrow.

"That, Slade, is not Drake," Wintergreen said firmly, knowing the new Robin's profile fairly well now; it paid to stay on top of Gotham's criminal and vigilante doings to know when something might explode the wrong way. "You take delight in bringing guests in off the savanna." The completely familiar, almost teasing tone was yet another difference for Robin; this man did not defer to Slade in the least.

Slade chuckled, low and soft and rough, and shrugged a shoulder. "At least this time it's not your daughter? Anyway, I left my phone upstairs, and I wasn't going to leave him out there while I came back after it to call Logan. He fell out of a mid-air rift just about on top of me. Wintergreen, yet another Robin, Robin, my oldest friend, Wintergreen." 

//Slade doesn't have friends,// his brain immediately scoffed, but Alfred had taught him better manners. "Hello." Robin appraised the older man, deciding that he was a threat in much the same way Alfred was: older, experienced, and not unwilling to do what was necessary by the way he carried himself.

"Well, no, you couldn't just leave him up there. And hello, young man. Let me get you a drink and something to eat while Slade rousts Logan out of bed," Wintergreen offered.

"That's not necessary," Robin said, with almost professional paranoia about food and drink.

Slade looked at Robin thoughtfully for a moment, then looked at Wintergreen, amused. "You're right. I am going to have to wake him up, it's 4am in LA. Bets he's been in bed for less than two hours?" he asked as he shrugged one shoulder and headed upstairs to get his phone, listening for the conversation below. 

"And of course he'll have some grand tale of how he almost seduced whomever is the latest Judy Garland type..." Wintergreen scoffed. "Well, Robin, come right in here to the den, to wait," he added, leading the teen to a place to sit. Robin seemed reluctant to leave the entry area, but Wintergreen had a presence that was as commanding as Alfred's. In fact, this Wintergreen reminded him far more of Alfred than that bitter, quiet, scheming man in Slade's lair.

The den that Wintergreen took him to was a personal one, covered in trophy pieces, and framed photos, most of which were snapshots rather than professionally done.

* * *

Slade reached his phone and flipped it open, tapping the couple of buttons to ring Logan -- unless, of course, he'd changed his number in the five or six months since they'd seen each other last. Which Slade thought was unlikely. 

"Nnnggh, 'lo?" came the sleepy voice on the other end. "No shooting today; said so," he added, still half-unconscious.

"Good morning, Logan. Sorry to wake you so early," Slade drawled, amused. "And oh, good, because you're going to want to come get my guest off my hands." 

"Nnn...Slade?!" The voice penetrated sleep fog, and the young man came very awake. "Guest...what? Hang on. Haven't heard from you in 'bout half a year and...what happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Annoyed and a little disturbed that the cross-dimensional crap is starting up again in **my backyard** , but at least my guest isn't -- yet -- a problem. I've got a Robin that definitely doesn't belong here." Slade smiled at how quickly Logan woke, shifting his weight to one hip. "More your kind of problem than mine." 

"Oh the universes love you, Slade, to throw a Robin in on top of you," Logan giggled. "Okay, okay, let me try to get a hold of Vic, 'kay?"

"The boy's scared about stupid of his universe's version of me, Logan," Slade rumbled, letting his frustration and anger at that show through his voice. "I figured. See you and Stone when you get here." 

"Ahh, hell, Slade..." Logan said softly. "We'll get there as fast as whatever version of the jet he's got can get us there, Big Guy." He scrambled out of bed, waiting for Slade to be the one to hang up.

"All right," he agreed, and flicked the phone shut again, dropping it into a pocket to head back downstairs.

* * *

Robin had been incapable of just sitting still. Wintergreen had stepped back out of the den upon putting him there, which left Robin to prowl, investigating the snapshots. Pictures of both men at younger ages with various children appeared, and then there were just pictures of the children themselves at different ages. The quality of the photography was excellent, yet Robin noted two things quickly; the age of some photos was apparent due to processing techniques, which made him revise estimates of Slade's age, and the later pictures of the children were mostly taken by zoomed in lenses.

Slade hadn't had to look for Robin to know where Wintergreen would have put him, and he made his steps deliberately loud before he walked into the den, glancing to see where the boy had gotten to. "Logan and Stone ought to be here... somewhere around sundown." 

Robin had turned at the sound of the steps, just slightly, then he cocked his head to one side. "That's really hard to believe, you know." The idea that Slade... any Slade... could just call up Titans... that he was even on _named_ basis with them...was shocking.

Slade shrugged a shoulder slightly, looking at him from where he'd leaned back against the door frame. "Given what you said earlier, that doesn't surprise me... doesn't particularly set well with me, but it doesn't surprise me." 

Robin studied the man a very long moment from behind his white-out lenses, unconsciously moving to a seat that let him face Slade rather than be easily surprised. "I don't think the universes were funny, dumping me here."

"I'm not impressed that we've got cross-dimensional traffic again, after the pure hell it caused the last few times," Slade said, his voice darkening a little. "I'm not looking forward to the fallout I can already hear coming. I've kept this house standing for going on ten years, I don't want to re-build again." 

"Re-build?" Robin couldn't help but ask. "What, is it habit to blow up your house or something?" 

"Mm... it seemed to be for a little while. My half-brother once, part of the US government once, one of the Titans' alien problems decided they didn't want me coming after them... it seemed like we no more than got the place re-built than it was being destroyed again. Pity I'm too damn stubborn to take the hint and move." 

Robin snorted at that, a ghost of a smile lighting up his features. The idea of Slade and stubborn was familiar, but over a hide-out? No...he looked around again, seeing the pictures of the two boys that favored Slade, at the pictures of the other children Robin assumed belonged to Wintergreen, and knew this was no hideout. There were places where other pictures should be, Robin realized, and wondered why they were down. Maybe they had been of the mother of the boys? There were a couple of snapshots of the other kids with women, but none of the two boys with one.

"Can't see Slade ever going to that much trouble with any of his hideouts," he said, rather than comment too personally. 

"Oh, I don't mind abandoning boltholes," Slade said with a shrug, "but I'll be damned if I'll let anything chase me away from my home -- for longer than it takes to get my name clear again, anyway."

Not even the mask could prevent the expression of absolute dumbfounded surprise at that statement from coming through, and then Robin shook his head vigorously. "There was no rabbit, and I didn't jump in the hole on my own," he reminded himself.

"Believe me, this isn't Wonderland," Slade said with a snort, "not unless Tetch is back out of Arkham again -- and neither of us is wearing a hat, anyway."

Robin's skin crawled at the mention of a familiar trouble maker from his home stomping ground, and then it crawled worse. Slade..his Slade... always knew so much. That was one thing this one seemed to have in common with his. 

"I'd just as rather not have you be the Cheshire Cat, anyway," he told Slade, offering a weak smile at the joke.

Slade grinned, laughing in amusement at him, trying to avoid commenting on the way Robin's heart and breathing and scent changed with unease and deeper fear. "I'll definitely pass on that. Pink and purple aren't my colors, and I'm not particularly good at rhymes." 

Robin's heart hammered for a second, and he stared at Slade in absolute amazement. How long had he lived in fear and rage from the sound of Slade laughing, and yet this? This was easy, good-natured humor coming out.

"Kid," Slade said softly, cocking his head to the side a little, "what's wrong?" 

"Not wrong...except in all the ways it throws me into 'yeah, this really is another world'," Robin said. "You … you know how to laugh, and not use it as a weapon."

"...if I ever permanently lose track of that, Kid, I pray someone manages to figure out how to kill me -- because what's going to be left is nothing I'd want to see turned loose." 

Robin didn't really know what to say to that, and just drew back into his center, finding it, grasping it against the shocks of the day, against the fears of the past, and settled himself firmly into the quiet zen he needed to stay calm.

* * *

Slade had let the boy settle into his meditation... and it didn't seem a bad idea, given how much of a problem this mess was probably going to turn into. He settled onto the floor, folding his legs into lotus, and let himself go into trance, checking on his healing, his reserves, and did some work on making sure that he was going to be able to stay centered through this mess. He stayed in trance until the first faint whine of the T-jet's engines hit his ears, and then his eye opened and he pushed to his feet. 

"Well, Stone's being polite, he didn't mute the engines. Come on, they'll be landing in a few, we might as well be out there." He took a deeper breath, and raised his voice. "Wintergreen, they're about here!" 

Robin had found himself surprisingly able to find his center, the longer Slade's calm quiet had continued. Now, he readied himself for the shock of meeting his friends' other selves, and hoped they did not differ as much as Slade did. He slipped to his feet in silent, economical motions, and went to leave the house as Wintergreen replied.

"Do not blow things up unnecessarily, try not to antagonize any of the children overtly, and if you see your daughter, for any reason, send her my regards," Wintergreen admonished, even as he rose stiffly and headed to the door to see his partner off. Only the heavens above knew when Slade would return, let alone if Wintergreen's health would see him that far.

"When do I ever blow things up _un_ necessarily?" Slade asked his old friend, cocking his head to the side. "I'm not intending to antagonize them -- after all, the Princess is off-planet and I'm used to ignoring Harper... and... of course I will." The reminder that Rose might well be there set hard on his shoulders, but he tucked it to the side, where it wouldn't interfere. 

"So you're going too?" Robin asked, disconcerted at the thought of _Slade_ hitching a ride across international borders in a T-Jet.

"Of course he is. Curious as a cat, once his interest's piqued," Wintergreen said, amusedly.

Slade chuckled, giving up on the momentary thought of protesting that he hadn't entirely decided to go -- Wintergreen had caught him into admitting he was quite nicely with that commentary. Some days, he rose to Wintergreen's bait entirely too easily. But then, Robin didn't have any reason to know that. "Depends on what they have to say, I think..." 

"You call that boy up out of the blue; I'll be staggered if he's not wheedling for you to do just that," Wintergreen retorted, well-aware that the exchange was further confusing Robin. The older man did not feel above hammering a point home; Slade was currently clear of all charges, keeping his activities under radar, and had made friends among the sometime-allies in the caped circles.

"This world just keeps getting stranger," Robin commented, half wondering if this was where Larry, his supposed double, had come from.

"You might have a point," Slade agreed, leaning on a column of the porch and following his ears to where the T-jet was swiftly coming visible. "We'll see." He glanced over at Robin, then, smiling just a little. "From what little you said, your world would be just as strange -- and probably a lot more infuriating -- to me." 

"Hmm." Robin hitched one shoulder slightly, in a noncommittal way of responding. He then looked up to see a sleek jet that was far more aerodynamic than the one he was used to. It landed and began powering down, but the hatch was opening before it had done so fully.

"Slade! Oh, hey Wintergreen!" came out of the green young man just before he started to run full tilt over, only to skid to a halt and go for a chimp form to scratch his head and peer in curiosity at Robin.

"Definitely Beast Boy," Robin said.

"Changeling, actually," Gar said, curiosity growing. 

"Hello, Logan," Wintergreen said with a slight smile.

"I think that covers it pretty well -- and with all of your usual comedic talent, Logan," Slade said, though he crossed his arms over his chest and glared a moment for the choice of the simian form, before he dropped off the porch and headed towards Logan, stretching a hand out. "How've you been?" 

Vic stepped down off the jet's ramp just in time to hear that, and snorted, "At least he gets the comedy right. Hey, Wilson -- and, whoa. Looks kind of like the current one, but the hair's all wrong..." 

Gar grinned, and transformed again, turning into a crow, albeit it in interesting shades of green, to hop up on that proffered hand as a perch. "Busy busy busy!" he said, adding a cawing noise at the end just for kicks. 

"Current one?" Robin asked. "You're telling me, that in this world, when the me here went to this Nightwing business, someone else became Robin?"

"Twice, actually," Wintergreen said softly. "But things don't always go well for the heroes either."

"Afternoon, Stone. Sorry to roust you at the crack of dawn," he said, looking that direction for a moment, before he looked down at Gar. "Busy, hm? You did say you were in the middle of a shoot -- how's that going?" 

"Don't worry about it. It's not like I sleep, anyway," Vic said, and walked up, around the pair of them, and to the stairs, looking up them at the Robin standing there. "Wintergreen nailed it. I'm gonna assume you know me, given the costume?" 

"I'd know you anywhere, Cyborg." Robin didn't want to think too hard on that; he had a lump in his throat just thinking about lost Titans, which meant thinking about Terra, and with Beast...Changeling right there, that felt wrong. "Pretty sure you'll have scanning equipment better than my portable one, to help me figure out what Gizmo and / or Jinx did to knock me here?"

"The actress is only one because she...well..." Gar broke off what he was saying, realizing just how young the Robin looked. He then caught up to what Robin had said. "Oh, man, the Fearsome Five? Haven't heard from them in a while."

Slade gave a wry smile at Logan's suddenly choked-off commentary, even if he did wonder when he'd learned restraint, and looked over his shoulder at Robin and Stone. "No-one's heard anything about them recently... which might well be cause for concern. Mammoth is usually hard to miss." He managed not to bite the words off the way he wanted to, remembering the behemoth of a man and Nguyen -- which was nothing he needed to be thinking about. 

"I'd _better_ have higher quality equipment than anything you're carrying, between me and the jet," Cyborg agreed, nodding. "I caught an energy signature on my scanners as we were coming in," he looked back at Slade, listing off the location. "That about right?" 

"Dead on," Slade said, nodding. 

"So we can backtrack it and figure out how to get me home," Robin said swiftly. "No offense, but..."

"This world is not your own, your team was in peril, and Slade's been giving you the willy-nillies," Wintergreen commented in dry tones, taking delight in the fact a bit of color came up in the boy's cheeks.

"Slade does that to people," Gar said in his oblivious way. "It's the grim and gritty attitude."

Slade glanced at the sky in a deliberately obvious silent request for patience, and glanced to Stone. 

"None taken, the sooner a cross-dimensional rift gets sealed back up, the better off we _all_ are," Vic said, shaking his head. "Come on, we'll go check it out. Green genes, you staying here?" 

"Yep...nice and sunny and waaarrrrmmmm," the other Titan said, flitting down to change back to man form. "You don't mind, do you, Wintergreen?"

Robin noted who it was that permission was asked from with something approaching visible startlement. 

"Of course not, Logan. No shedding or molting inside the house, though." He then nodded politely to Stone. "I will be going in out of the bloody heat, though. I have my book to work on."

Slade smiled slowly at the shocked look on Robin's face, amused with Logan as well. But then, Logan knew he was welcome as far as he was concerned. "Go on then, old friend. I do know where you keep everything, after all." 

"Not like I was going to come in out of the sun right now anyway," Gar said in a playfully low sulking tone. Wintergreen snorted, at both Gar and Slade, then went back to his study where he could take it easier and still be productive. Robin just shook it off as one more reason 'This World Was Wrong' and walked toward the T-Jet.

"I'm thinking it was Gizmo. I hope it was," he told Vic. "Raven's powers sometimes fritz a little around Jinx."

"Yeah?" Vic asked, tipping his head a little. "I think I can see that... and I wish Rae was here, we'd have another way to work on getting you back home." He stepped onto the ramp, let Robin step on, and hit the switch to raise it again, before he said anything else. "I miss the witch... but then, I think we all do." 

Robin had to lean against the wall. "Raven? Gone?" His voice broke, just slightly, and he looked pale under the mask. 

Vic moved, stretching his hand out to squeeze a shoulder lightly, his mouth tight. "Yeah. We thought we'd gotten her back, but... there was something wrong in the way she came back, she couldn't... hell, I don't know, magic isn't my thing. She merged back into the astral plane."

"Whoa." At least she wasn't dead, Robin thought. Dead was forever. Except..."This time?" he croaked.

"Sometimes I think Rae's name ought to be 'Phoenix', as many times as we've mourned her only to have her come back to us, but then the idea just scares me." 

"I..." Robin had to fight to keep his breathing even. He did not ever want to lose any more of his friends. Ever. Terra had been one too many. "We haven't gone through that."

"...count yourself lucky, kid," Vic said around the knot in his throat, hands balling into fists. "Count yourself damned lucky. And hang onto them while you've got them."

"I'm not letting anything happen to them. Star...she warned us of one possibly future, and I won't let it happen!" Robin said fiercely.

Vic tugged to get this kid that suddenly sounded so young to face him. "Robin. Sometimes... you lose. Sometimes nothing you can do is good enough to bring everyone back. Just... don't let that make you push people away. It's the worst thing you can do. Trust me on that one."

Robin frowned. "I hate being pushed away. Why would I do it to anyone else? And I will be strong enough. I will be good enough to protect them!" Robin couldn't accept less.

Vic closed his eyes, shaking his head a little. Yeah, he'd heard that before. And he'd seen the aftermath, too. "Because grief makes people as crazy as love does. But... alright." //You're not going to understand until you live through it, and I hope to God you never have to.//

Robin watched Vic a long moment, then shifted his focus. "I swear, if it is Gizmo this time, I'm breaking every gadget he's carrying," Robin said firmly. He wanted away from all conversations about death and dying and losing friends, especially with all his Slade buttons pushed currently.

"...never a bad plan, man. _Never_ a bad plan," Vic agreed, and headed for the front of the jet to pilot back towards the site his scanners had picked up. "I've wanted to more times than I can count. But then... we _really_ don't like each other." 

"Yeah, I can see that," Robin said with a grin. "He's a hack, compared to my Cyborg, though. Bet that's got to be the same here." He followed and settled into the copilot seat, taking in all the differences inside the jet.

"Of course he's a hack. Nasty little well-funded hack, but he's a hack. Just too good at what he does for me not to take him seriously. And when the five of them are together... well. It's never good. And if Wilson's uneasy about that we haven't heard from them, I need to do some data-mining once we get your problem handled. So... what do you think of my baby?" 

Robin wanted to pursue that connection to relying on Slade's instincts, but put it to the back of his mind for now. "She's nice. Smooth ride. A bit more complex than mine, in some ways, but also more streamlined in others."

"Yeah? What'd you guys do different?" Vic asked, trying to let the //so young// Robin get himself pulled back together out of what was never an easy conversation to have. 

Robin started in on the various design differences, falling into tech speak with an ease that went above and beyond what Nightwing usually used that kept up even when they got to the site to do the scanning.

Vic was picking up slight tachyon interference, as if the world Robin came from wasn't quite synched in time to this one, which made sense, given how young Robin was and all. The more he probed, the more certain he was that this was no magical energy.

"I don't think it was Jinx this time," he offered Robin.

"Definitely Gizmo tinkering with his devices again, then" the young Titan said firmly.

"At least that means there ought to be a tech way to get you back -- not looking forward to having to go to the League or the JSA to get you back home, but we will if we have to."

Robin looked blankly at him for a long moment. "The whats?" 

"What do you mean the whats?"

"The League? The JSA? Are these other teams? I've only ever heard of the Doom Patrol, and that's been gone forever," he said.

"...I don't know what messes with my brain worst about what you just said," Vic said, shaking his head. "Yeah. You could put it that way. They're other teams."

"Huh." Robin chewed on the idea as they walked toward the jet again. "Who's on them?"

"The Justice League? At the moment: Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman when he's on the surface, whichever Green Lantern's on planet at the moment... I think Fire's running with them at the moment, I saw Zatanna in the middle of one of their problems last week... a few of the others, but I'd have to check the active roster to know which ones for certain."

Robin's eyes boggled, making the mask adjust to his expression. "BATMAN?! I mean, yeah, he sometimes gets along with Superman...who's Wonder Woman? Zatanna's okay..."

"...'sometimes gets along with' -- wait a sec, what do you _mean_ who's Wonder Woman?" Vic stared, shaking his head, trying to get his brain to even wrap around the idea of a world like the one he was hearing about. He wasn't sure if he felt sorry for the kids -- or envied the hell out of them for not having to deal with the League sticking their noses in when they weren't needed, and never when they'd actually be useful!

Robin had to smile then, and shake his head. "You sounded just like my Cyborg like that," he said. "Our worlds definitely seem to have differing histories and timelines."

" _Definitely_ ," Vic muttered,shaking his head. "And for you not to know the JSA, either... were there like, not any heroes during the World Wars?"

"You mean like the Blackhawks?" Robin asked. "Several military groups rose to be inspirations."

"Heh. Somebody ought to get that word to Zinda; she'd be thrilled," Vic said, then shook his head. "No, I mean like the JSA: the original Green Lantern, Flash, Wildcat, the first Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Sandman, Spectre, Dr. Fate, Hourman, the Atom..."

"Ooh, I've seen Black Canary; she's this rookie heroine over in the harbor district of Gotham. B likes her." Robin grinned. "But then, he's always softer on the girls."

"Rookie... ow, my head..." Vic said, whining theatrically to cover his stab of fear for Roy at the idea of Canary not being there when he was going to need her, because she was as young or younger than they were.

Robin shook his head. "Wildcat's a boxer... I've heard of some of the others," Robin said. "But they've never teamed up, and there aren't any records of a team like you're talking about."

"One major difference, right there. And there'd be records, lots of them, if nothing else, from freaking McCarthy's damned hysterical mob that tried to go after them."

"Interesting." His head spun around the idea of a former team, someone to have been a precedent, and how it might have changed things. "Well, at least we do know I can go home, once we figure out how to reverse engineer whatever Gizmo did."

"That's not gonna be fun, but anything he can do, I can take apart," Vic said, confident and easy.

"I have faith in you," Robin said, sincerely. He wasn't really looking forward to being around Slade for very long, but then again...maybe he could learn something.

"Thanks," Vic said, smiling over at him. "I appreciate it. Wonder if I'm leaving green genes here, or if we're going to have orange-and-blue company..."

"Orange and what?" Robin peered at the other Titan in surprise, yet again.

"...blue? Wilson's eyesore of a costume?" 

"Orange and black..." Even as he said it, Robin felt like he was being closed into the armored costume once again, a reflection of the man that had claimed him.

"Nah, he went blue and black once, but I think someone told him it looked too much like 'Wing's and he gave it up..." Vic tipped his head to the side, stretching one hand out to his shoulder. "Hey... you all right?"

Robin flinched, briefly. "Yeah...blue and black, huh? That'd be different. Star said she met the me who wore blue and black in that future. I just can't imagine not being me, you know, not when Batman needs me and all." Robin then shook his head. "Star's trip to the future and you guys having had three Robins now doesn't mean anything."

"...yeah, well. Maybe your Bat's got a little better grasp on what he's got than ours' ever seemed to." Vic wasn't sure he believed that, but Robin sounded like he did. And stranger things were possible. 

"Batman's the best." Robin didn't have any reason not to think that, and Vic found himself real glad he wouldn't be there to see the fall out when/if that Bat let this kid down. He just settled into getting them back to Slade's place, already ticking over the data in his head to figure out how to fix this.

Robin looked out as Vic piloted them back to the house, and was thus able to see the scene as they came in for the landing. That there was a massive green lion laying across the ground just in front of the porch, draped out in a long sprawl of fur and muscle and mane, head turned sideways on folded paws... with Slade -- lounged casually against him, leaning back in a deliberately casual sprawl with his legs along the ground and his head half in the mane. That...made Robin's brain freak out quietly in strange ways, but he also managed to use the image to break down some of his reservations. After all, Gar seemed to be the same kind of guy as his own Beast Boy.

Vic snorted from beside him, shaking his head. "Oh, now that's just _cute_ -" he barely got the word out, and then he broke off to snort as Slade rolled to his feet as the jet touched down - and kicked his full speed into effect to vanish inside the house. "And he's being a damn show-off for some reason, he had the last half hour to go get whatever he's after..."

Robin had watched him disappear like Kid Flash, and that actually made fear come right back to him. "Always able to do that?" he croaked, before coughing to hide the break in his voice. It was faster than Robin had thought Slade capable of, and he was almost certain he had pushed his erstwhile mentor to the edge of ability in their last fight before Slade's death.

"Yeah, long as we've known him, though I think he got faster after Cheshire got her poisonous little hands on him..." 

Robin flicked through his files in his head; he vaguely remembered a Cheshire working in Europe. "He's faster than anyone I've seen other than the twins and Kid Flash." 

"He can't keep it up for their kind of distance, thank God," Vic said, "but yeah, for short bursts he's a match for most speedsters. Wals can run circles around him because he can do it for longer. He's not normally that obvious with it..." he said, suddenly thoughtful. He was still trying to politely ignore that Robin was freaked out... did Slade know he would be? If he did... it wasn't Slade's way to yank on someone just for the fun of it, why now?

Robin frowned, biting the inside of his mouth against the thought of what Slade could have done with just a single burst of speed in that last fight, the one that had claimed him and Terra.

Slade came back out in a couple of minutes, still in civilians with a duffel slung over his shoulder, which made the lion stand up. He reached down with his free hand to run his fingers through the wild length of Gar's mane as they headed to the jet. 

Robin made himself be calm when the jet settled, and he went to the hatch to watch the lion morph into a monkey, chittering as he whipped himself up on Slade's other shoulder.

"Logan, _really_?" Slade protested, catching at him with that hand -- missing just to keep the game going. 

"You woke me up in the middle of the night; only fair you should carry me," Gar reasoned. "Heya Robbie!" he chattered, monkey hand in the thick white hair of his friend. "Find what you needed?"

"We think we did," he answered, glad of his mask to hide the look of his eyes.

"That I don't mind, but a monkey? Well, I suppose it gets to your personality -- and if you go parrot, I _sweah_ , Logan..."

Robin's ears pricked at that hint of an accent in Slade's words, filing it as one more thing to research in his own world. He wanted Slade explained, fully, to end the mystery left by his would-be mentor. 

"Nah, only do rocs for when I need to carry the rustbucket in there," Gar teased back, blatantly omitting the earlier crow impression. "But you know..." and he transformed to a sloth, long nailed-paws combing into Slade's hair for a moment. "I am tired."

Slade moved on to settle into a seat near the pilot's cabin, lounging back across it, waiting to see if Logan would settle into a form that was slightly easier to hold. "Then get some sleep. We've got the time." 

"First rule, Wilson?" Vic asked wryly, and he wasn't surprised when he got a soft, agreeing snort.

Gar opted for a house-cat's form, settling in the man's lap with a kneading motion of both front paws, before closing his eyes, ignoring everything else but the comfort and safety of where he was.

Robin watched it all in amazement, and decided that maybe Gizmo really had sent him to some kind of weird wonderland. 

"What did you find, Stone? Magic or tech?" Slade asked, his voice pitched to be heard easy enough, but casual enough that it shouldn't wake Logan.

"Tech, and from everything else, that means definitely Gizmo. We'll see what we can figure out with the Tower's computers running it too."

"At least that means it shouldn't be too hard to get back," Robin said. "Raven wouldn't be able to backtrack me too fast because of Jinx, but with my Cyborg and the one here cracking at the problem, I'll be home soon enough," Robin said. //Back where things make sense, and I don't WANT to know how a Slade can be nice and laugh.// 

"True," Slade said, nodding slowly. "Easier than having to deal with some of the others for a mage. I haven't run anything for that crowd in a while, my credit's a little thin."

Robin looked at him, sizing him up on the strength of that statement, and then shook his head. "I could never see a day that I would need help from any Slade...and I would never pay the price mine would ask."

Slade's lips thinned, his eye narrowing. "Kid... that's probably a good thing in your world."

Robin inadvertently rubbed his wrist, where the control bracelet had gone. "I know."

Slade saw that move, that gesture of remembered captivity, and his mouth went tight, though he kept his breathing steady and shallow.

Robin looked again at Gar, drowsing peacefully, then at Vic, who was so calm having Slade aboard, and sighed a little on the inside. If Robin's Slade perceived him to be akin to himself, Robin had to wonder what this world's Dick Grayson was like, and if the parallel ran that far.

* * *

Vic flicked the Titans comm band once they were over American waters. "Cyborg to the Tower..."

"Hey, I come up for the day and it happens to be a day you're dropping in?" Nightwing replied cheerfully, overtop the protest in the background from Damage that he was on duty, really...

Slade's head came up from his drowsing position at hearing the Kid's voice, edge of his mouth curving in a slight smile. He just might chew Grayson out over some of what he was pulling these days while he was around anyway, but it was good to hear the Kid sounding happy.

"Not just dropping by, trying to solve something kind of trippy, man. You up for another round of dimensional travelers? Well, travel_er_."

"Just one? Should be a walk in the park!" Nightwing came back, before laughing. "See you in a minute or three, Cyborg..."

"Oooh boy, this will be fun," Gar said in a low voice, springing from his lap perch into full human and stretching.

Robin considered the voice over the speakers. He could hear his tones in it, if a lot more settled into adult ranges than his own barely-stable voice.

"See you, man," Vic agreed, and flicked the comm back off to head for a landing. "Robin, either don't watch... or don't believe your eyes. This Tower's underground, the T's a hologram. We got tired of having it blown up."

"Finally," Slade murmured, snorting. "Living in a giant target..."

"Kept them from shooting at the city so much," Vic pointed out in retaliation.

"Heh. That's why we made the Tower a giant T...Jump City was having problems," Robin said.

"Jump City?" Gar asked, silently, mouthing it at Slade.

Slade shrugged a shoulder, equally baffled, and smiled at Stone, amused. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Sometimes, anyway..."

"You know, barring shooting sprees by people trying to catch us in the city?" Cyborg taunted, just a little, his head turned back towards Slade.

"Gu~uys!" Gar protested.

"'Spree'? Hardly..." Slade echoed, his voice insulted, before he shook his head and changed his tone to something deliberately light. "All right, all right, Logan. Stone, do we need to go 'round about that again?"

"Nah...I think it's all past." Vic dropped the T-jet down through the hologram of the Tower, landing it easily, and dropped the ramp. "Home sweet Tower..." The whole time, the others could see that Robin was weighing the entire conversation.

"Yeah, home." Gar sighed; he was always happier here...except when senior members were feuding, like now with Roy and Donna. He didn't want to be anywhere near that, and yet, here he was. 

Slade pushed to his feet, catching up his bag again, and let his free hand settle behind Logan's shoulders reassuringly.

That contact reassured Gar; Roy wasn't likely to stay at the tower with Slade there, especially if Dick was here, given the rocky history all the way around.

Robin followed them off the jet, his eyes taking in all the differences between his Tower and their Tower... including the lazily lounged-against-a-wall hero in blue and black just waiting for them. The way he snapped up in surprise to see their native guest -- barely noticing Robin, until something obviously kicked into his mind and his face sharpened under the mask. 

"One traveler and one stranger, huh?" Nightwing made himself say, after he'd realized Robin was in Gotham. And besides, the costume was quite a bit different.. His eyes searched over Slade's face, knowing that it really hadn't been that long since Addie's death, especially not for Slade.

"Stranger, Kid?" Slade asked, cocking his head a little, checking the Kid over. "I looked for you the last time I was in your town... couldn't seem to find you. Wound up with a different 'bird' for company... interesting lady."

Dick's whole body went tight, screaming that there were issues in that one sentence that he had never dealt with, before he forced himself to push it away. "I might have gotten a little tied up. Not surprised you got involved, given what went down," he said, hearing only too late that his voice had far too much neutrality in his voice. He then pointedly looked at Robin, knowing his Robin was... had better be!... in class right now. "Hey, Robin. This is all kind of weird, and all, but I'm Nightwing in case you missed it."

Slade did not fail to see how hard Grayson was working at being easy-going or normal; something in Blockbuster's plans recently had really hit the Kid hard enough to break something in the way Dick handled himself. Unease flickered along the back of his mind, wondering what had happened, but he put it aside for later. 

"Yeah, I'd heard about you from Star, in our future," Robin said, his voice ticking memories in Dick's mind of times when he'd still been hitting on Babs over the roofs of Gotham, or getting used to the beautiful alien Starfire on his team.

"You're me," Nightwing managed to say, in a show of his brilliant detective skills...much to Vic and Gar's amusement as they both laughed, trying to keep it from being howls of laughter.

"Not quite," Slade interjected. "Very different universal histories," he said, still watching the Kid.

"Yeah? Well, I guess that's not the point. You've got to be wanting to get home. Cyborg, any way I can lend you a hand on that?" 

Vic snorted. "Not unless you added super-genius....although, you know, you do have the ability to tap into League contacts via the Bat, so why don't you stick around, just in case?"

Slade carefully measured the tensions again, as Vic mentioned Batman, just to see if that was an added burden on his student. The young Robin seemed to be listening intently, as if trying to get a better idea of things that might happen in his future.

Dick didn't let himself tense, didn't let himself show the thread of unease that brought -- but he could talk to a good part of the League easily enough, without ever bringing Batman into it. "Alright, Cy. No problem."

"So let's get started," Cyborg said, leading the way out of the bay and over to one of the big labs he'd need. 

Slade let Robin and Logan fall in with Vic, but made certain to step in close to Grayson, voice going very low. "After...we talk."

Dick turned his head, looking up at Slade's blue eye, and wanted to protest, to avoid having to go through this... but that would just make Slade chase him down into the 'Haven, and that he _really_ didn't need. "..alright, big guy. You look good, Slade."

Slade snorted at that. "Always did take a tan well." He wasn't really keen on letting Dick hit back on matters too personal, but he was pretty certain the Kid knew better these days.

Dick grinned a little, nodding. "Yeah, you would."

"Let's go see if we can get this kid home before he gets even further disillusioned by me or any of us," Slade answered that, seeing the goal of getting Robin home as a step toward what he really wanted: Dick Grayson alone for a while.

* * *

Robin had to admit there was only so much he could do to work on his solution in a given day. Vic also had other priorities to see to, and that meant having some free time on his hands. Robin wasn't certain what to do with that. He did look over the different members of this team, meeting Damage and Argent and Omen, who were all in the Tower currently. He decided there was something about Troia that was familiar, and then realized that everyone had expected him to know her for some reason, which just made him a little more confused.

He missed his team. He worried about them, worried how they had fared against the Five, and if they were worrying themselves sick over him. Or, worse, if they had raided his closet again.

He found himself drifting toward the training rooms, thinking that free time could be spent honing his skills, but wound up going flat against a wall, his heart hammering in his chest, as he heard a low laugh that resounded in his nightmares.

"Getting good, Kid," Slade complimented, honest and full of pride that was neither mocking nor even all that possessive. Robin caught himself, and pushed to a vantage, realizing he had the bird's eye view of the gymnasium in use by Nightwing and Slade as they sparred.

"Getting?" Nightwing challenged as he pushed off one of the piles of boxes that made this gym one of his favorite places to spar and came back at Slade, grinning, "I'm always good, and you know it."

Slade laughed again at that boast, and executed three maneuvers that let him get the cocky kid down on the floor, a light pin in place. "Most of the time." He smirked before releasing the pin, moving back to let Nightwing have his space back.

Robin could not quite believe what he was seeing. It looked... familiar, maybe even intimate, but it was also wanted by both sides with none of the power plays that Robin's Slade would have put into it. Of course, Robin would never have voluntarily allowed Slade, damn him to a thousand hells, to be in the Tower.

Nightwing didn't take the space, though, following Slade from the floor, twisting to a handspring to kick at his chest, dropping back low again, to Slade's evident delight and quick catch of the foot, even though that set Nightwing up perfectly to execute a spinning Capoeira kick for the face, barely avoided by the use of superior reflexes.

"Nice move, Kid," Slade praised him.

"Thanks ever so," Nightwing laughed, and used Slade's grip on his foot to push off both arms and forward, elbows going into either knee just before he threw his weight down from both feet. Slade had not let go of the stabilizing foot, and with that leverage, he could not avoid either going over as Dick intended, or dropping down on him in a tangle that might very well hurt them both, so Slade went with the throw, releasing and turning it into a credible tumble with a twist to come down in a three point stance before just rushing back and using sheer body mass and speed to tackle Dick again, laughing low in his throat as he did. This was why he enjoyed keeping ties to certain Titans, despite all the reminders. This was seeing new fighters grow and surpass the old.

Robin used the noise of that clash to leave, abandoning thoughts of working out in favor of brooding, the Gotham City favorite pastime. This was all just too surreal for him, and he focused on missing his team to hold at bay the thoughts of wondering if Slade, his Slade, had ever been like the man currently sparring with his other self.

More laughter, higher and softer, followed him as he left, delighted and entertained noise that he was certain could never have come from _his_ throat, but so obviously had from his other self...

* * *

After a troubled sleep in a bed that was not his own, Robin found his way back to Vic's corner of the tower... and heard a sultry voice that was enough to put Catwoman's to shame any day of the week. He rounded the corner into the room and saw both Cyborg and Beast Boy standing in front of a vidcast screen, one that was displaying the most beautiful woman with the fullest figure he had ever seen... who just happened to share all of Starfire's coloration.

"Glad you're doing good, Goldy, but you gotta come visit," Gar pouted at the screen.

"We really wouldn't mind seeing you sometime, in person. And I'll be sure to tell Donna and 'Wing that you called," Vic promised.

"You know that I would love to, Victor, Garfield," Starfire said, shaking her head slightly, hair flowing around her in a torrent, "but we are so very busy here on New Tamaran, I do not know whe -- Robin? Your costume is..." She paused, tipping her head differently, narrowing her eyes to look out into the room. "No, you are not the Robin I know. Victor?"

"Yeah, we, umm, wound up with a dimensional visitor. It's... 'Wing, but younger and from a really skewed world, Star," Vic offered. That all but made Robin's eyes bulge out of their mask, to have confirmation.

"Star~fire?!" he asked, his voice cracking right in the middle of her name from sheer surprise, which set Gar to howling, monkey style, in laughter.

"Who else would I be?" Starfire asked, looking across the room at him, shifting closer to the 'camera' on her end. "Hello, Robin. I am pleased to meet you, I think... though I suppose it is not entirely a meeting, if you already know me... what surprises you so?" 

"You... you're... " His cheeks flamed as he wound up miming her height and curves hastily. "You're all grown up."

"Yours isn't?" Vic and Gar chorused. "DUDE!" Gar continued. "Star's been the hottest Titan ever forever!"

"I... suppose I am," Starfire agreed, looking down at herself thoughtfully, "but Victor and Garfield are quite right, I have been adult since long before I learned English from our Robin." 

Robin's flush deepened. "She wasn't kidding about that?"

"Some things don't ever change," Vic said with a low laugh. "Alright, Star, you said you had work, and I've got to get Romeo here back to his Starfire before she comes through dimensional walls to show us what a scrawny Tamaranean would look like."

"Take care, both of you!" Starfire said, smiling as she reached to flick the camera back off, "and you, Robin... good luck getting home." 

Robin was in mid-bluster over what his not-so scrawny girlfriend could do, and having to bite his words, because they weren't really, even if maybe they liked each other a little, when the very adult Starfire spoke. "Umm, yeah... thanks."

She smiled again, bright and easy, finally did flick the camera off, the screen going dead. 

Vic turned, grinning at Robin a little. "Took you by surprise, huh? Jokes aside, I can't imagine Kory not looking just like that, she's always been... well, _her_." Robin shook his head fiercely.

"She's taller than me and BB and Raven, but...not so many curves. Blackfire looked a little more... but even she didn't look like THAT!" Robin said, stunned.

"Can't imagine it," Gar said smoothly. "Have to find Joey's paintings...." he murmured, remembering all the casual poses. "Or Donna-girl's photo albums."

Vic shrugged a little, rattling off a room number. "Everything we managed to save from that explosion is down there, man. We'd have to hit up Wilson for any of the others, and I'm not sure I want to ask, given that his place got hit about the same time... What I'd have given for digitization when Joe was still with us..." he said, half growling the words.

"Yeah... Come on, Robin. Rustbucket's not quite ready to test the prototype, and you'd just be underfoot," Gar said with an audacious wink. He then paused, and looked at Vic. "Bets Wintergreen microfiched photos of them all though?" he said, grinning before sliding an arm around Robin's shoulders in a friendly fashion to guide him to a walk down memory lane.

"So hit him up, and we can avoid having a temperamental Wilson," Vic said, relieved by the thought. "Hope you're right." 

"I'm always right, metal-head," Gar told him before hurrying along to dodge whatever got thrown his way, laughing. It made Robin think that there really were some things that never changed, as he thought about his own Beast Boy and Cyborg, with their thing. That, at least, was easier to deal with than not!evil Slades and bombshell!Starfires.

* * *

Nightwing was still working on putting together a late brunch -- he'd slept through breakfast, to no-one's surprise -- when he heard Gar's voice coming his way, and the low, quiet murmur of Robin's voice answering. He turned towards the door, plate in hand, and as Gar came in he laughed a little. "Guess I should have put more on... Morning, guys." 

"Morning, 'Wing," Gar said. "I'll just take toast; gotta be getting back to the coast for shoots soon, and don't need to be wearing the extra camera weight!" 

Robin eyed the not-his-Beast-Boy with trepidation at those words, wildly imagining what kind of B-grade horror schlock Gar would be involved in. He then looked at Nightwing, and nodded. "I won't say no to food."

On the last syllable, Slade Wilson walked into the kitchen, and Robin watched as his counterpart subtly straightened, flashing a quick grin at the older man…who returned it with a small smile while rifling Gar's hair.

"Hey, the do!"

"Figured you hadn't combed it yet," Slade drawled, before sitting. "I'll take a plate."

"Or two…" Dick said impudently, before settling to cook for them all.

Robin could not help but feel like he was in a surreal dream of nightmarish proportions.


End file.
